Jaishankar Meets All-Party Squads Led By Sanjay Jha, Kanimozhi

Joint efforts to counter terrorism and bolstering trade and investment figured prominently in bilateral meetings between external affairs minister S Jaishankar and his counterparts from Central Asian states on Thursday.

- Rezaul H Laskar

NEW DELHI:

The foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are in New Delhi to participate in the fourth edition of the India-Central Asia Dialogue on Friday. Ahead of the dialogue, Jaishankar held separate meetings with his counterparts.

Kazakh foreign minister Murat Nurtleu, Tajik foreign minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin, Kyrgyz foreign minister Zheenbek Kulubaev and Turkmenistan foreign minister Rashid Meredov denounced terrorism and backed joint efforts to counter the problem during their discussions with Jaishankar.

Jaishankar said in a social media post that he appreciated Nurtleu's "reaffirmation of zero tolerance for terrorism". Jaishankar and Muhriddin agreed on the need to "firmly counter terrorism in our region".

During the meeting with Kulubaev, Jaishankar thanked him for Kyrgyzstan's "support and solidarity in countering terrorism". He also welcomed Meredov's strong condemnation of all forms of terrorism.

Jaishankar and his counterparts also held discussions on enhancing trade, investment, connectivity and development and energy cooperation.